"There’s no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs," the petition reads. "Too much is at stake -– please vote NO on PIPA and SOPA."

The LA Times notes that Google's is far from the only petition opposing SOPA and PIPA:

Of course, Google's anti-SOPA and PIPA petition is not the only one out there on this day of mass online protest. As of this writing 1.458 million people signed a similar petition at the activist website Avaaz.org, and Fight for the Future said that between its two sites, Sopastrike.com and AmericanCensorship.org, at least 350,000 people have sent emails to representatives in the House and Senate.

A graphic put out by Google shows that before today's coordinated protests, 3 million Americans had signed various petitions against the two bills.

I honestly can't recall a similar effort - eighteen Senators changed their positions - or a similar instance of online activism. As Paul notes, it wasn't out of the goodness of our elected official's hearts either that made them run. They read the political writing on the wall, turned tail in the opposite direction.

This isn't purely online grassroots activism, obviously - Google is a huge corporation as are many opponents of SOPA - but to see sites like Reddit and Wikipedia, both largely user driven and community oriented, help start to change the political outcomes of major pieces of legislation is to take a glimpse into the future.

The playing field is shifting. Technology is helping to level that field. Bills like SOPA and PIPA threaten to return us to the status quo - not just in arts and entertainment and the issue of fair use, but in the way we are allowed to be free on the internet. We have the capacity to make a difference. Laws that threaten freedom of speech threaten that as well.

We can work to combat piracy and protect free speech all at the same time. I hope that yesterday's blackout helped move us a few steps closer to a real conversation on these issues.